As we celebrate our country’s participation in the Expo 2020 Dubai, on behalf of His Excellency the President of the Republic of Botswana, Dr. Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi, I wish to congratulate our nation on its 55 years of a great and equally challenging journey of independence.
Having just celebrated our independence on September 30th, we take pride in our achievements as a nation, and we also pay tribute to our friends who have helped us on this development journey.
We thank most profoundly, the Kuwait Government and other countries of accreditation in the Gulf for their continued bonds of friendship which have helped us to tell our development story with passion, admiration and pride. This is what we are celebrating! As the Embassy, we are excited at the opportunities that we will realise in our engagements during this magnificent Expo 2020 Dubai spectacle.
Today we celebrate the Expo 2020 Dubai under the theme “outpacing progress through smart partnerships”. We believe that the Expo 2020 Dubai and strong bonds of friendship with our development partners presents an opportunity to maximise on strategic partnerships. For us, the Expo presents an opportunity to learn and teach others, to tell our stories, to influence change and to better lives.
This is the time to reflect on partnerships that over the years have helped us to outpace progress, such as the Botswana Government and DeBeers partnership, to look at sustainable tourism and beneficiation, seize the opportunity to engage technology power houses and digitalise our services. Against this, Botswana reaffirms her commitment to provide investors with a conducive environment to do business.
With regards to our diamonds- our pride, through the development of the Forevermark Retail Store in Botswana, we are now part of a very exclusive worldwide club that has the entire diamond value chain represented in our country. This establishment of a leading global brand, complements the exploration, mining, rough sorting, and rough sales carried out in the country, as well as the cutting, polishing and jewellery manufacturing by Sightholders who have come to the country on the back of the De Beers Group’s successful beneficiation policy.
Charge d’Affaires
Embassy of the Republic of Botswana, Kuwait
We are therefore excited and invite the world to invest in Botswana and explore the many opportunities that exist in this value chain. Despite her small population, Botswana offers investors a market access through different bilateral and multilateral agreements to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) with a population of 277 million people, the European Union 512 million people, the United States of America through AGOA which provides access for 625 product lines, and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which has a population of 1.2 billion a great opportunity to invest in.
Like the rest of the world, Botswana has been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In containing this, His Excellency the President has set out the Reset Agenda to help the country re-emerge from this pandemic. One of the pillars of our Reset Agenda is the value chain development in various sectors of our economy.
As we celebrate our 55 years, we remember heartily, our friends and partners’ enormous support we received that enabled us to vaccinate our people in an endeavour to join the global economies as they rise from the pandemic. To this end, on the 1st of October 2021, Botswana lifted the State of Emergency (SOE) that was introduced in April 2020 to curb the scourge.
We are happy to share inform that the lifting of the SOE comes with the opening up of the economy to further intensify our trade and investment facilitation. Notwithstanding this, we continue to exercise all the necessary precautions to ensure that the re-opening of the economy does not come with complacency. The Expo 2020 Dubai therefore indeed comes at an opportune time when we can safely and confidently say that we are ready to welcome you to Botswana.
Ke a leboga, Shukran, Pula!
Amangwe O. Madisakwana
Charge d’Affaires
Embassy of the Republic of Botswana, Kuwait
